April 16, 2008 // 11:29 pm - The Internet was abuzz yesterday when it was discovered the Spore Creature Creator will be included with The SimCity Box, an upcoming compilation of SimCity games that's due out in June. The Creature Creator will let you get a head start on creating your unique alien species for Spore, which is the next game from Will Wright, creator of The Sims and SimCity.

Spore has been hotly-awaited for years now, but its release is finally going to happen later this year. To find out more about the Creature Creator, we caught up with Patrick Buechner, Vice President of Marketing at Maxis.

IGN: So can you confirm the Spore Creature Creator will be in the SimCity Box when it ships in June?

Patrick Buechner: A trial version of the Spore Creature creator will be available for free through a variety of sources including as a download from Spore.com and in The SimCity Box. There will also be a version of the Creature Creator available at retail. The free Creature Creator has about 25-percent of the creature making parts from Spore. The retail version will have 100-percent. It's up to the players to choose which version they want, but they'll all be available at approximately the same time.

IGN: What's going to be in the Creature Creator? Just the creature creation portion and the "test drive"? There's no game content?

Patrick Buechner: The Creature Creator functions identically to the creator you'll find in Spore. You'll be able to create an unlimited number of creatures. Mold them, apply body parts, [and] paint them. Once you've made a creature, you can bring it into a test area where you can walk it around and try a variety of animations. While you're in test mode, you'll also be able to take movies and screenshots on a few different backdrops.

IGN: Can you do anything with your creature once it's created? Can you share it with friends or show it off in some way online?

Patrick Buechner: Yes, you'll be able to share creatures you've made or import other player's creatures that you've downloaded from the Sporepedia at www.spore.com.

IGN: If you make a creature will it be usable in Spore when it ships or will you need to have to rebuild it with the final creature creator?

Patrick Buechner: Your creatures will work in Spore when it ships. There won't be a need to re-make them.

IGN: Will you only be able to get it in the SimCity Box at first, or do you plan a wider release at the same time?

Patrick Buechner: The Creature Creator version in the SimCity Box as well as the free download and full retail version will be available around the same day in June.

IGN: This is a sign that Spore's really--finally--happening, then, right? When's it coming out?

Patrick Buechner: Yes! Spore will be in stores on September 7 in North America and September 5 in Europe.